Tattoos
by Little Piper Girl
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke does not worry. Not even when his two teammates disappear for 24 hours and come back a little changed.


Disclaimer: Really. Naruto's not mine. At all.

Tattoos

Sasuke was on heavy probation after his return. The Godaime didn't want to risk the village in any way more than necessary, so the last Uchiha was restricted to his family's compound. He was given the task of cleaning it up and making it halfway presentable for human habitation. Alone.

So the night Naruto and Sakura got drunk off their asses and then disappeared for about 26 hours together, Sasuke was working on one of the houses in the compound; dusting, sweeping, mopping, carpentry. He had no idea what was happening outside his walls until Kakashi came by to ask after his other students. He was a little out of breath, which told Sasuke that he'd been moving non-stop for quite awhile trying to find his errant subordinates.

The following night, Sasuke couldn't concentrate to work on any houses. He wouldn't say he worried. Oh, no. He was pissed. Naruto hadn't turned up to train that day and Sakura hadn't come by with lunch and a medical check-up. He wouldn't say he missed either of them. He merely held them in contempt for falling in their duties.

Kakashi came by again that night, not out of breath and not worried in any way. He merely reported that the missing duo had been found uninjured and were currently getting the living daylights beat out of them by the irate Hokage. Sasuke nodded and said that was fair. He didn't say that he had every intention of doing the same whenever he saw them next. But he figured that was fair too. He had an inkling that Kakashi was planning something similar.

Sure enough, they appeared on his doorstep the next day, looking like they'd been dragged through hell. Twice. Naruto had a bandage covering his most of his head and various band-aids were visible wherever skin showed. Sakura was also in bad shape. Her left thigh was wrapped copiously in gauze as well as her right wrist.

They gazed at him sheepishly when he opened the door. He merely stared back, uncaring. But when he turned to go back in, he left the door open.

His teammates entered quietly as though sensing he wanted to thump them soundly for not appearing the day before. That lasted until five steps in and they argued over whether they needed to eat first or spar first. Sasuke ended their squabble by heading to the kitchen and banging around. He would never say that he had been waiting for their return to eat anything and was therefore about to gnaw on the next available edible thing presented to him.

Later that same day, as evening was coming upon them, it happened. Naruto taking off his shirt from heat was nothing different. They had just finished an intense sparring match where he felt that his… disappointment in their recent behavior was sufficiently shown. Sakura stripping down to a mesh tank top was also nothing new. Team 7 had long ago shed their shells of modesty around each other. What was different was the appearance of tattoos on their chests.

It took the Sharingan user less than a second to grab Naruto by the arms and study his chest thoughtfully.

"Hey. Hey, Sasuke! Geez!"

Sakura snickered as she wiped her arms with a towel. "At least buy him flowers before you grope him like that, Sasuke."

Naruto glared at her before looking at his dark haired teammate in confusion. Sasuke was focused intently on the space just above and to the left of Naruto's heart.

A circle was marring his otherwise smooth skin.

Once the Uchiha was satisfied with his inspection, he turned to Sakura with narrowed eyes. Seeing his plan, Sakura backed up a little and started to raise her hands before her when suddenly he was before her, holding her the same way he'd held Naruto a moment before. And he was staring at her chest.

The blush that was starting was only made worse when Naruto laughed outright. "Should I leave you two alone?"

But Sasuke was staring at the swirl on the top of Sakura's left breast.

When he finally pulled back, he didn't let go of the young woman. Instead, he looked into her eyes with a glare and shook her as he demanded, "What the hell did you two do?"

Naruto's smile vanished and Sakura fell completely still in his grip. He split his glare between the two of them evenly. "Well? You two idiots come back in shit kind of shape, with tattoos, and nobody knows where you were for a full day." He shook Sakura a little in emphasis. "Where did you go?" _And why didn't you take me?_

The unspoken question hung in the air more than the ones he'd asked and when both friends stayed silent, he released Sakura with a little push. She stumbled back into Naruto's chest. "Fine, then. I'll be asking Tsunade for a team transfer in the morning. You two seem to have everything under control." They both protested, but he ignored them and walked into the house, moving to close the door this time.

It was almost shut when Naruto's voice cut through to him with more bitterness than Sasuke had heard in awhile. "That's it then, is it? You're running away simply because me and Sakura-chan are close, is that right?" The blonde man seemed to grow in size as he stomped to the door and wrenched it from Sasuke's grip. "Sakura almost dies last night, and the only thing you can think is that we're excluding you. I always knew you were a selfish bastard, Sasuke, but I half thought you cared about your teammates." He turned to go, taking Sakura's hand as he passed her. The rosette haired girl looked at Sasuke with wet eyes as she was pulled away.

"Naruto… he doesn't know. We should at least tell him a little." She wasn't really struggling in Naruto's grasp. Only digging in her feet and gazing at Sasuke longingly. Then she obviously tried to brighten. "Maybe he can help, you know?"

Naruto stopped but didn't turn and didn't slacken his grip on Sakura's hand. If anything, Sasuke could see that he gripped her harder. "Bastard's just gonna take everything the wrong way. He's selfish, Sakura. Nothing we say will make him want to help."

Sasuke stood motionless in the doorway to his parents' house and watched their small struggle. He tried to read their body language without being obvious about it. Naruto's turned away feet held little hope of Sasuke understanding, but his tight grip on Sakura's hand was a desperate need for it. Sakura's fake cheerfulness was a grab at normalcy that her averted eyes said she didn't really want. They were almost desperate to tell him something but were afraid he wouldn't accept… what? The situation? Them?

All three were silent, considering their options.

"Is Sakura pregnant?"

The blonde spun around spluttering and the rose-haired woman gasped loudly, free hand rising to her mouth.

Sasuke sat on the step leading to his door. Resting his elbows on his knees and placing his hands before his mouth, the Uchiha merely raised an eyebrow at their flabbergasted expressions. "No?"

Sakura shook her head violently while Naruto simply stood there and gaped.

Sasuke paused for what he felt was an appropriate length of time.

"Is Naruto?"

There was a moment as they considered what was involved in that process before Sakura fell to the ground in peals of laughter while Naruto stood there violently shaking his head and blushing.

Sasuke leaned his head to the side until it popped. Then he lowered his hands to rest hanging off his knees. "Well, since there's no one I need to adopt or marry at the moment," Naruto fell into the dirt beside his female friend as her laughter suddenly cut off, "you will not be afraid to tell me what happened." He waved his hand imperiously, just in case they didn't get his commanding message.

He didn't give the title of friend to many people he was acquainted with, but these two had been that for him since before he learned to appreciate it. Now that they were all growing, it was coming time for these two knuckleheads to really learn what it meant to be called friend by Uchiha Sasuke. And making him worry 'til all odd hours of the previous day and then being scared to tell him what happened was not part of it. If there was something they were afraid to ask his help about… well, they could just get the hell over that.

When they had been quiet too long, he narrowed his eyes for effect and grunted. "Well?"

"Sakura almost died last night," Naruto blurted out and the girl jerked her head around and glared at the teen beside her.

"I had it under control, baka." She shook a finger at him. It lost a little of its intended effect because of the bright orange band-aid adorning it. "You're the one who had to play the smug hero and act stupid."

Naruto's cheeks puffed up and he looked ready to launch into a full scale denial of whatever he did. To head it off, Sasuke cut in. "What did Naruto do?"

Sakura pulled her knees up to her chest. "We were running a fast errand in one of the civilian villages and Naruto gets it into his head to try getting drunk at one of their bars."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay." He looked at Sasuke conspiratorially. "Little Miss 'Damage Control' over there got pulled into a drinking contest with another shinobi who was there."

"He insulted Shishou! No way was I letting that pass."

Sasuke was sure there was more to it than that but he was willing to let it go. "So…what? You drank to keep up with her?"

The Kyuubi container grinned. "Nope. Girls kept buying me drinks."

Sasuke glanced at Sakura to see her nodding and rolling her eyes. "They thought he was 'ruggedly handsome' like some 'wild animal'… or something like that."

Sasuke was sure she'd committed every word to memory, as well as their silly civilian faces. "You two got drunk, I take it."

"Drunk off our asses, man." Naruto was rocking back in fond remembrance. "We got to this inn and I could see the sky through the ceiling."

The girl next to him looked at him in disgust. "We slept outside you idiot." She transferred her gaze to Sasuke's interested eyes. "I don't sleep indoors when I get drunk. There is too much damage if I wake up somewhere strange with a hangover."

He could see the situation. Her short temper and monstrous strength combined with a nasty hangover and a maid service knocking on the door. It wasn't a pretty picture.

"What does this have to do with you almost dying though?" Why were they gone for that extra day? When did they get tattoos?

"I was in complete control of the situation!"

Now Naruto looked at Sakura in disgust. "You have no idea what your limitations are and you are constantly steps away from exceeding them. I would have healed fine without you."

"I don't like relying on that… that _fur ball_ to heal a person I love!"

Sasuke almost sighed in exasperation as things got quiet between them again.

"I know, Sakura-chan." Naruto soft smile was a wall against the tears Sasuke could see forming in his eyes. Declarations like Sakura's were rare between the three of them ever since Sasuke had left. It struck him sometimes that maybe none of them would be repressing anything if he hadn't left for Orochimaru.

The young woman needed a moment to compose herself and Sasuke obligingly looked at the setting sun to give her a little privacy to sniffle and surreptitiously wipe her nose on the solid bottom of her mesh shirt. Naruto covered the act of wiping his eyes by pretending to cover them to look at the sun.

"I still don't understand what all this has to do with how you got tattoos. Especially those specific tattoos. Are you married or what?"

"Gack!"

"Whup!"

He considered it polite to ignore their unprepared sounds of surprise.

"Man, I wish." Naruto straightened his legs out in front of him and leaned back on his hands.

"Ummm, no. Not marriage. But we are bonded of some sorts." Sakura's mouth was twisted in thought.

Sasuke's eyebrow rose again. "Bonded?"

She nodded. "Kyuubi demanded it."

"Kyuubi? He can make demands?"

Naruto nervously scratched the back of his head. "You saw where he stays; how easy it is for him to communicate with me. After Sakura left herself behind, he pretty much demanded I mark her somehow."

Sasuke was starting to see the picture, but there was still a gaping hole. "Only half of that made sense to me." His eyebrows knit while he thought. The blush was returning to Sakura's skin and Naruto was starting to look proud of himself. "It was Kyuubi who told you to get tattoos?"

Growling, Sakura looked away from both of them. "No. The tattoos were my idea. Kyuubi had another marking in mind."

"Aw, c'mon, Sakura-chan. Would it have been so bad?" Naruto placed his hand on hers. When she didn't shake him off Sasuke knew he would decide later if he was shocked at this display of affection that she allowed. In front of him no less.

She did whip her head around and spit out, "You know it's not a matter of that, Naruto. You know I'm saving-" Abruptly, she stood, her hand falling from his grip, and brushed her skirt off. "I'm going for a walk. You can tell Sasuke what happened after we woke up in that forest, Naruto." And she was gone between a couple of the houses before either teen could say anything to stop her.

Naruto expelled a loud breath as he watched her disappear. "She's been horribly moody since the whole thing."

Sasuke was getting impatient. These two were dancing around something so fast, they were making his head spin. "Will you just tell me, dobe? I'm not going to be tolerant for much longer." At least if it was Naruto taking his time, Sasuke didn't have to feel guilty of wanting to beat the truth out into the open.

The blonde teen stayed leaning back on his arms and staring at the sky for a long time. If Sasuke hadn't understood that sometimes, for the difficult things, quiet helped organize thoughts, he would have thought Naruto was ignoring him. Since his return though, the dark youth had noticed that his bright counterpart was more subdued. Especially when it came to their female member. So the Uchiha remained quiet and simply concentrated on not looking away from Naruto's crimped mouth.

The sky had darkened some degree when Naruto finally spoke, and it wasn't what Sasuke was expecting. "Do you remember our first Chuunin exam?"

Sasuke didn't deign to answer. That wasn't the best question ever asked, but at least the dobe was speaking.

"You weren't there for Sakura's fight, remember? The one where she fought Ino."

Sasuke remembered hearing about it. It had lasted longer than many others. The girls hadn't wanted to hurt each other. With their history, it hadn't seemed right to bring their fight to an actual physical level. This was something Sasuke had trouble understanding. Naruto and he traded blows all the time and they'd practically died for each other before. Girls.

"Well, I heard her telling Shikamaru about it after we got back from fighting Gaara. Apparently something happened that confused Ino and she had to consult her clan about it." Now, Naruto turned his blue eyes to Sasuke. They were very serious. "Sakura escaped Ino's mind transfer."

Having heard various versions of this story, Sasuke wasn't surprised and simply returned the gaze.

Naruto's eyebrows fell down and his forehead wrinkled. "Sakura-chan's way powerful, Sasuke. More than I can keep up with." He paused again before taking a deep breath. "We woke up yesterday morning, surrounded by Jounin from Cloud. They were the ones we'd been drinking with the night before."

The irony didn't escape the Uchiha.

"Apparently, they saw me an' Sakura-chan in their bingo books –can you imagine that, teme?-and they thought it would be a good idea to get us drunk the night before. Well, the second they could tell we were awake they attacked." Naruto paused again. "I lost control, Sasuke. The hangover kept me from fully leashing Kyuubi. He slipped out and tore up those Cloud-nin bad."

"Is this where Sakura almost died?" He really wanted to know if there was someone alive who ought not to be.

Naruto scowled. "Sakura stopped him from killing anyone." Then his expression melted into grudging admiration. "I don't know how she did it, but she was holding me down with one hand and healing those assassin wannabes with the other."

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up and he sat up straight. That was _not_ something he'd known she could do.

Naruto nodded in agreement with Sasuke's face. "As wicked cool as it is, this is the part where she almost dies." He licked his lips and gazed back up at the sky. "She was exhausted already from healing those lousy bastards when she turned her attention to Kyuubi." He scratched his blonde hair. "I'm actually not sure what happened next. She interacted with Kyuubi, somehow fully locking him behind his seal and leaving… a guard of some sort. I don't know how to explain it."

"She'd always been with me; a voice that cheered me on when things got tough."

Sakura was leaning against Sasuke's doorframe holding a cup of something steamy. Without saying another word, she turned to go in the house. Sasuke glanced at Naruto to see the other teen looking at him with the same question. They got up, brushing themselves off, collected their belongings and walked inside.

Their teammate was sitting at the table, staring into her cup and tracing patterns on the tabletop with her fingers. "Tea's on the stove."

Naruto helped himself to a cup while Sasuke sat down across from Sakura. Once they were both seated, Sakura took a sip from her cup, eyes darting around the room.

"Who is she, Sakura?"

At Sasuke's voice, she concentrated on him and gave a small smile. "She's me." Before Naruto could protest that statement in any way, she continued, "Ino accused me of having two minds once. She had no idea what it meant. Kakashi-sensei simply called her my fighting spirit. All I know is she was there for most of my life and then, after healing Naruto, she's gone and I've passed out."

Naruto's gentle smile from earlier returned. "She's in me now, Sakura-chan. She's guarding the seal on the Kyuubi's gate and generally keeping him distracted." A burst of laughter escaped the ramen-loving ninja. "If anything, I get the feeling that she amuses him."

"So happy to be of service," Sakura grumbled.

Sasuke was putting it all together in his mind. "So, since Kyuubi is a creature driven by instinct, he saw this other Sakura as a marking of some sort and demanded you mark this one?"

Naruto blushed and Sakura snorted. "That's a nice way of putting it." Sakura leaned forward onto the table. "He basically told Naruto that if he was going to carry a piece of me, I'd better carry a piece of him too." Her left eyebrow lifted in suggestion.

Sasuke was proud that his jaw didn't drop. "He wanted Naruto to get you pregnant."

"Needless to say, I wasn't going to do that. My career would be over!"

"Hence the idea of the tattoos."

She nodded. "It's still a marking to let everyone know that Naruto and I are… connected." She said the last word delicately.

The blush had died from the noisy ninja's face and now he was nodding in agreement. "Kyuubi was pretty satisfied actually. Something about the permanence of it attracted him, I think."

Something about the permanence of it seemed to attract Naruto as well, but Sasuke wasn't going to embarrass them by saying that. "Hn," was all he allowed to slip through.

Silence descended again, broken only for a moment when Sasuke pushed his chair back and walked to the doorway. He was thinking fast and needed a little space to do it in.

Sakura's small voice rose after awhile. "If you still want that team transfer, Sasuke, we'll understand." There was a muffled bang, almost like she'd stopped Naruto from making a protest by smacking his face into the table. "Separating from my Inner self took a lot from me, but I wouldn't want her back if that meant Naruto lost some strength on the Seal. We're going to have this bond forever now. I was hoping… no. I won't say that. If you have issues-"

"Sakura," he cut her off. "Shut up."

She was quiet.

"There's only one thing I can think of really to make this work. And it means taking back what I said before."

They were both still quiet and when he turned around his teammates were holding hands, looking like he was about to abandon them again. He smirked when he knew he was going to prove them wrong. Uchiha Sasuke did _not_ abandon his friends. He might disappear for a few years at a time to achieve his goals, but they were never abandoned.

"I'll go to the Hokage tomorrow and talk to her about adopting Naruto as my brother."

It gave him no small amount of happiness to see their faces freeze in astonishment. Then Naruto stood up. Instead of letting out the whoop of joy Sasuke had anticipated, the blonde teen approached him. It didn't surprise the prodigy to see tears filling blue eyes. It did surprise him when Naruto pulled him into a tight hug. A couple of hot tears fell on the curse seal, filling Sasuke with their warmth. He would not think of the warmth emanating from his heart area. Those emotions had deserted him long ago. Although, Naruto's rough whispered "Thank you" nearly made Sasuke believe emotions had returned to him.

The blonde pulled back and studied Sasuke's face carefully. "What about Sakura-chan?"

Both young men turned to look at their pink friend. She was still sitting at the table, her tea growing cold in front of her. She had one hand clutched to her chest and the other wiping at her eyes. "That was beautiful, boys. Don't worry about me. I'll-"

"Sakura will move in here with us." He would never ever tell them that he'd just made that choice without thinking it through thoroughly five times.

"Whup."

"Gack."

If they were going to join him here, they were going to have to learn to control their odd noises. It wouldn't do for people to think that the Uchiha clan was not articulate.

"And once she deems her career as being thoroughly experienced, I'll marry her." He really needed to get control over his mouth before it said something he might not mean. They probably hadn't needed to know that part yet.

But he figured it was worth the tongue slip to have her launch her body at him and hold him close and tight. She was covering the opposite side of his neck that Naruto had with her laughter. It kind of tickled.

Once the two of them had calmed down sufficiently, he stated the one thing he had actually thought of a few minutes before. "And you two will have to be tattooed and outfitted with the Uchiha symbol."

They stared at him.

Feeling slightly defensive, Sasuke added, "Of course, I will have a circle and a swirl added to my person. That way people will know."

"Know what?" Naruto questioned.

This was totally going to ruin the image he'd spent years creating.

"That we are a team and we belong with each other only."

Then again, he was fine with a crumbling image as long as he had Naruto and Sakura close by. There were not many people Uchiha Sasuke would call friend… and now there were two less. He was fine with that too. After all, they were family now.

And family was the only status that would allow them to live after the impromptu group hug they performed. It was full of laughter, tears, and long-suffering sighs.

Maybe he would worry less now. Not that he ever did in the first place.


End file.
